Discovering Life
by rojy
Summary: In which Ulquiorra discovers Humanity and life. sequel to "Till we meet again" , "Will you come again?" and "Whole Set"


His visits to the human world had increased lately to the extent that soul society should have noticed by now but they didn't make any move which made him suspicious. Every time he concealed his spiritual pressure but that wouldn't work for long. Whatever, he decided he would just use this for his advantage. He would have more time here..

These happy things she talked about were little things, Things he deemed unimportant. If the heart were such trivial things how could it fill his never ending emptiness?

He was a patient man.. He decided to wait and see and he didn't want to upset her. She seemed really enthusiastic about this whole thing.. about making him happy. This willingness of hers stirred something within him. Something he hadn't felt before.. or was it something from before he became a hollow? He was still confused with feelings but he found this particular feeling not annoying.

Odd enough the shopkeeper was welling enough to provide him with a gigai upon the woman's request. He knew scientists usually had ulterior intentions for their actions and this was the guy who created the Hogyoku. The shopkeeper indeed had an ulterior motive but it worked for his favor in the time being and he doesn't have any alternative.

* * *

The woman had remembered lots of things as but she was still missing parts of her memory. She decided that Ulquiorra should socialize a bit and try making friends. This was the most he dreaded of "the happy things" trials, he didn't know nor care how to socialize specially with those who were enemies. He and her were enemies too.. but she's different. The others are still enemies.

There they were at the meeting point with her friends. They didn't approve when she first told them about him but they had to give in eventually seeing that she was going to do what she wanted regardless. It was that feeling again, the emptiness seemed to shrink whenever it came. Is that what she meant by doing happy things? but he hadn't done any.. It was her doing.

He was able to recognize the two friends of hers: The tall tanned guy that she healed at the park and the Quincy. They were all here for the same reason.. for the woman's sake. It was obvious that all except for her didn't want to be here.

It was tense. Sado was already a quite person. He seemed to be observing him. It was Ishida who was Hostile against him. Orihime started to ramble in her trial to make the atmosphere better. Just when she started regretting this the tanned boy spoke:

" I may not trust you much but I trust Inoue-san's judgment of others. Though I don't like this much, I am neutral but if you're willing to hurt her.."

"I have no intention of doing so. If I did I would have done that a long time ago." The arrancar interrupted.

The woman smiled at that and the guy who spoke seemed relieved. Even the quincy seemed a bit relieved but still untrusting "Better be so. We won't go easy on you."

"Yes, I have seen it before."

Orihime smiled at that while the other two humans stared at her. It got weird again but everyone wanted this to go smoothly since it was the woman's request.

"So is Kurosaki late because he's sulking?" Asked the Quincy in a sarcastic way.

Orihime was fidgeting and looked at both her friends and said "Ano.. I didn't invite him since you know.."

"So you remember?" She was interrupted by both the hollow and the Quincy.

"Ah, Yes." She smiled and continued "And you know how he is."

"He's just a hot headed idiot" Ishida stated while being also sarcastic

"I agree with that. He would probably want to settle the score between us."

"Exactly"

Both the black haired men were agreeing with each other.

"True, but he will come to accept it after sometime." Said Chad after sometime.

Orihime looked a bit troubled "You shouldn't badmouth Kurosaki-kun"

"But that is the truth." Ulquiorra tried to elaborate. He disliked the shinigami besides that being the truth.

"Indeed it is." All of them knew it was but those two disliked the shinigami for their own reasons.

"I hoped you would get along at something better." She said a bit disappointed.

"Woman, just because we don't like the shinigami doesn't mean that we are getting along." Ulquiorra said in a his usual monotone voice. He was starting to get bored.

"Then would you prefer Kurosaki-kun?" She asked not so innocent.

"No" He deadpanned. Ishida laughed but restored his composure back quickly

"Actually you know the books you read? I borrowed some from Ishida kun"

* * *

He used to think that books were garbage. It was a human product and a product of their emotions, the optimum of their stupidity. The woman suggested that he would read books to get a better understanding of humans and the heart. He ridiculed her but went with her suggestion since he agreed to all this.

He discovered how much he was at fault before. It was a different universe in such small texts. He found that it expressed things inside himself he wasn't able to point out before. It really engrossed him. He learned that he was feeling anxiety from coping with the change of his believes. He learnt about feeling of love. He didn't like that he imagined the woman when he thought about it. He would sometimes even imagine themselves as the lovers in a book he read. Would she think the same?

What mesmerized him the most was poetry. How could some small lines say so much! It says such enchanting things with rhythm too. It says what an entire books says in just a couple of lines. Even if he didn't agree with the theme of a certain poetry, he admired the poetic talent of the author. He admired it so much and even started reading for different poems from different cultures. He also liked how a poem is a lot of times doesn't mention certain people's name. He felt it was about him.. and it her too.

* * *

It wasn't that Ulquiorra needed her but she needed him. The loss of her memory and the atmosphere when she was around was suffocating. Her friends were sad and it pressured her. She also didn't like how lonely it felt at home. She didn't know what to do. Then he came, he was a way out from the misery her.

She didn't feel any danger from him. To tell the truth, she was curious about him. Days were happier when he came. He filled the loneliness of her apartment. She didn't feel the pressure of wanting her to remember. Rather, he seemed afraid of what the rest wanted. She didn't mind, she knew he won't pressure her. It was comfortable.

She started to remember bits and pieces. She knew why he wouldn't want her to but nevertheless she still wanted him to stay. She was happy that he got along with Ishida-kun -at the expense of Kurosaki-kun to her dismay- and Sado-kun.

She remembered how he tried to sooth her when she remembered her brother's death. He turned a miserable event to one that would warm her heart whenever she remembered.

She took pride that she was able to guess his emotions which was a mystery for everyone. It wasn't, they just needed to look at his eyes carefully and they would be able to detect it. His eyes were powerful and expressive.. and there was something bothering him at the mean time.

"Ulquiorra, what's wrong?"

His eyes widened surprised that she had noticed. He wasn't used to someone being able to read his emotions. It was a bit uncomfortable but it wasn't bad.

"There are some changes that are happening to me." There was no use in lying to her she would jus presist more.

"Are you hurt?" She asked with more concern showing on her face. He was happy with how she was concerned about him. She was making the same face when she was concerned for her friends.

"My hollow hole is shrinking.."

* * *

At the candy shop, Urahara smiled when he felt the two familiar spiritual pressure approaching.

"do you think that will prove your hypothesis?" Tessai asked

"May.."

"What hypothesis?" The female cat interrupted her shopkeeper friend as she entered the room.

"About the fourth espada" He said with his usual smile.

"Was that the one about finding his heart and being purified without the blade of the shinigami?" The cat said while stretching.

"Yes, yes that's the one!" Urahara said while clapping his hand "Hopefully I would be able to test it today."

The black cat reassured "You still have time anyway. Soul society is still collecting itself from the war. The eighth division is also interested so they pulled some strings."

The shopkeeper smiled and went to the door enthusiastic like a child.

* * *

 **A/N: It took much time to write this fic I started writing it months ago. I am feeling that I am getting better at this. This the last part of the series.**

 **Hope you liked it**


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